ABSTRACT
This section contains concise annotations of each volume, based on the liner notes provided by the respective writers. This collection is included because it provides important information for scholars interested in the dissemination of African American culture, and jazz in particular, on a global basis. The annotations are restricted primarily to information about dissemination and cultural context.
Jazz and Hot Dance in Argentina (1915–1950). HQ 2010.
According to Willy Oliver and Tomás Mooney, the diffusion of jazz to Argentina began with the 1903 Carnival when the cakewalk was popular at Buenos Aires society balls. Thereafter, several African American and Anglo-American ragtime troupes appeared at music halls and popular groups added this genre to their repertoire. Rags were recorded (1902–20) by a variety of groups. Beginning in 1918, Victor Records of Argentina distributed “jazz” recordings of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band and Earl Fuller. Recordings by Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, Jelly Roll Morton, McKinney’s Cotton Pickers, and others soon followed. Eleuterio Yribarrens was, in 1922, the first Argentina jazz band to record jazz. The notes continue with pertinent facts about influence(s), diffusion, and style characteristics to 1950.
Jazz and Hot Dance in Switzerland (1921–1952). HQ 2011.
In liner notes provided by Rainer F. Lotz, several significant points are made about musical contact, acceptance, influences, and distribution. Lotz asserts that “Chronologically speaking, the prehistory of jazz in Switzerland starts in the 1860’s, although Afro-American performers, singers, dancers, and instrumentalists visited the country noticeably less frequently than any of the neighboring countries. Art forms such as the cakewalk, ragtime, or spirituals—although occasionally demonstrated in the more metropolitan centers such as Geneva and Zürich—hardly left any impression on the public in general and musicians in particular.” He reveals that the musicalbox companies of the St. Croix area began recording African American songs and dances around 1890. The first formal contact took place in 1926 when Francesco Guarente bought his group, “World Known Georgians” to Europe. African American troupes began touring Switzerland in 1926. Two of the first groups were “Chocolate Kiddies,” with music by Sam Wooding’s Club Alabam Orchestra,” and “Black People,” directed by Louis Douglass and featuring Sidney Bechet. According to Lotz, the “Lanigiros” was the first Swiss jazz group to make a “conscious effort to play jazz.” He continues by concisely documenting the continuing evolution of outside influence on Swiss jazz. There are 15 tracks, dating from 1921 to 1952.
Jazz and Hot Dance in Russia (1910–1963). HQ 2012.
Rainer E. Lotz begins his notes with a concise historical account of African American musicians touring Russia in the second half of the nineteenthcentury: “The pre-history of jazz in Russia can be traced back to the second half of the 19th century, when Afro-American entertainers toured the country—singers, instrumentalists, and dancers. There was a regular theatre circuit covering not only St. Petersburg, the capital, but also all townships up-country between Buchara and Nishni Novgorod, Archangel, and Ivanovo Vollnosensk. From 1900 onwards a veritable wave of black performers toured Russia. To pick a few names at random, banjoist Edgar Jones performed around the turn-of-the-century, the uncrowned cakewalk champions Johnson and Dean gave repeated demonstrations between 1907–1911, (and) Garlands Opera Troupe presented ‘A Trip to Coontown’ in 1910. Visits by Sam Wooding’s Chocolate Kiddies and Benny Peyton’s Jazz Kings (featuring Sidney Bechet and Frank Withers), were made in 1926.” John Philip Sousa’s introduced “orchestral ragtime” to Russia in 1905. Lotz provides informative comments about the recordings, covering style, influences, the impact of the German invasion (1941), and more. There are 15 tracks, covering genres ranging from tangos and waltzes to jazz. As Lotz correctly notes, the term “jazz” refers more to instrumentations than to the type of music performed.
Jazz and Hot Dance in India (1926–1944). HQ 2013.
Not available.
Jazz and Hot Dance in Austria (1910–1949). HQ 2014.
In his liner notes, Klaus Schultz provides evidence of African American contact with the Austro-Hungarian monarchy in 1903. He reports: “Tishy’s Negro Dance Troupe performed at the Vienna Ronacher Variety Theatre for 30 days in 1903; and in 1905 the Cake Walk was first demonstrated in Vienna by another troupe of 30 Afro-Americans.” According to Schultz, several groups visited Vienna in subsequent years. The Syncopated Orchestra performed at the Vienna “Prater” amusement park in 1922; Arthur Briggs’s Savoy Syncops Orchestra 1925–26; The Seven Michigan Jazz (featuring Abdullio Villa on clarinet), in 1926–27; Sam Wooding’s Orchestra with the Chocolate Kiddies (featuring Tommy Ladnier, Herb Fleming, and Gene Sedric), in 1925; Leon Abbey, Eddie South, Teddy Sinclair’s Original Orpheus Band (featuring Frank Guarente on trumpet) in 1927, and Bobby Hind and his London Sonora Band, Babe Egan’s Hollywood Redheards, and the Weintraubs Syncopators from Germany also visited in the late 1920s. The influences of Jack Hylton and Paul Whiteman are alluded to, followed by additional historical comments and remarks concerning the 16 tracks.
Jazz and Hot Dance in Hungary (1912–1949). HQ 2015.
According to Attila Csányi and Géza Gábor Simon, the diffusion of African American culture to Hungary probably dates to the 1860s when the first minstrel troupes toured the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. By the 1890s, Jackson and Joseph, Brooks and Duncan, and the Ethiopian Serenaders had performed in Hungary. The visits continued and in the 1920s Sam Wooding’s Chocolate Kiddies (1925), the Palm Beach Five, Billy Arnold, Herb Fleming, and Benny Peyton visited, as well as groups from England and Germany. Information on the emergence of Chapry (Jeno Orlay-Obendorfer), the first publication of ragtime compositions, and notes about the 16 recordings are also provided.
Jazz and Hot Dance in Trinidad (1912–1939). HQ 2016.
The music of Trinidad is a synthesis of African, English, French, Spanish, and African American influences. This volume includes recordings dating from Lovey’s Trinidad String band of 1912 to a piano solo by George Cabral in 1939. The degree of jazz influence was summarized by Rainer E. Lotz: “The early performing ensembles were string groups frequently augmented by flute or clarinet, the latter being the older Albert-style instruments which produced that distinctive Franco-Creole tone heard throughout the Caribbean to New Orleans. By the 1920s, New York’s Harlem population had witnessed the emigration of West Indians from many islands. With the general opening of the record industry to black artists, Trinidadians began to bring their music to the studios on a regular basis. Occasionally, jazz elements would be borrowed, but the émigrés never incorporated jazz wholesale. Even the last cut on this album, made in 1938 by clarinetist George Felix, transforms a current Johnny Mercer hit into an island paseo devoid of any jazz-like embellishment or improvisation.” The four recordings cover paseo- and waltz-influenced waltzes, calypsos, and the jazz-influenced recordings of Jack Celestain and His Caribbean Stompers, and the Harmony Kings Orchestra of British Guiana.
Jazz and Hot Dance in Finland (1929–1950). HQ 2017.
When African American entertainers, dancers, and singers traveled from Oslo, Norway, to St. Petersburg, Russia, some would add Helsinki, Finland, to their itinerary. According to Pekka Gronow, among the many artists who performed in Finland were Miss Flowers and Geo Jackson (1892), Sir Issacs de St. Vincent and Henry Parris (1893), Edgar Jones (1904), and a performance of “A Trip to Coontown” by the Negro Operetta Troupe (1913). Gronow reveals that jazz arrived after World War I, and although it might be properly labeled pseudojazz, it remained popular with a Finnish-American dance band in 1926. Thereafter, with the influence of three members of the Finnish American who remained in Finland, the diffusion of jazz was in full force. In the concise liner notes Gronow also dates the first jazz recording and provides biomusical comments on the groups and recordings. There are 16 tracks.
Jazz and Hot Dance in Martinique (1929–1950). HQ 2018.
In his liner notes, Alain Boulanger reveals that “Recording studios were not established on the French Antilees until the 1950’s.” He feels the lack of earlier recordings is unfortunate because the music of St. Pierre and Martinique was similar to that of New Orleans. According to Boulanger: “The unique musical form of the beguine, geographically limited to Martinique and its sister island Guadeloupe, emerged roughly the same time as jazz in the USA, the paseo in Trinidad, the tango in Argentina, and the danzón in Cuba, i.e., around the turn of the century.” In addition, he reveals that the pioneer of Créole music in Paris was a clarinetist from Martinique, Alexandre Stellio, that Felix Valvert is credited with the first recordings around 1930, and that Robert Mavounzy is the “Grand Old Man” of Antillais jazz. Of particular note to jazz scholars is the work of Sidney Bechet (soprano sax) and Willie “The Lion” Smith (piano) on the 1939 recordings of Sous Les Palmiers. There are comments on each of the 16 tracks.
Jazz and Hot Dance in Czechoslovakia (1910–1946). HQ 2019.
American entertainers since the 1880s have been regularly visiting Prague, Czechoslovakia. By the 1890s, both African American and Anglo-American groups were common. Among the most significant traveling groups was the Texas Jack Wild West Show (1895), which included, according to Vladimir Kaiser and Rainer E. Lotz, American plantation scenes, song, dance, and instrumental solos by the National Quintette of Real American Negroes (Billy Watson, Richard Thompson, A.A. Anderson, Edward Cole, and Harry Neuman). In 1899, the Carters, the Rosebuds, James and Arabella Fields, the Anderson Sisters, and Anglo-American groups in black-face (the Harwood Brothers, Wood and Sheppard), performed in Prague. Recordings were not made until the late 1920s. Thereafter, recordings from America, England, and Germany became available. After World War I, jazz proliferated with the organization and recordings of numerous bands. The authors assert that the theoretical knowledge and technical ability necessary to improvise jazz are not realized until the 1930s. Among the additional informative points mentioned: the Czech label Esta devoted much of its output to jazz; after 1918 “jazz instrumentation” included banjos, saxophones, vilonophones, flexatones, and drums, and the Nazis allowed the inmates of the Theresienstadt concentration camp to organize a jazz band. Includes historical comments about each of the 16 tracks.
Township Jazz—Black Jazz and Hot Dance in South Africa (1946–1959). HQ 2020.
Explores jazz-related music in the African townships of South Africa, particularly Johannesburg. African American cultural forms, performed by African and Anglo Americans, date as far back as 1862, the year that Joe Brown, a jig dancer, toured the area as a member of Nish’s Christy Minstrels (1883). Burt Shepard (1898), the Fisk Jubilee Singers, John Philip Sousa’s Band (1911), and England’s banjo ragtime king Olly Oakley (1915) all completed performance tours. Horst Bergmeier provides a concise history of the sociocultural conditions that nurtured the growth and development of the music as well as notes on the music. Specifically, he relates that “The imported 1930’s recordings of American swing bands and close-harmony vocal groups had a strong bearing on the emerging local black jazz scene.” The 16 tracks are permeated with Western influences, including instrumentations, scales, harmonies, and improvisations. These recordings date from 1946, however Bergmeier relates that “the music of the Shebeens and the first generation of township jazz went unrecorded.”
2913. Jazz and Hot Dance in Australia (1925–1950). HQ 2021.
According to Mike Sutcliffe, African American minstrel groups, including the Fisk Jubilee Singers and the Georgia Minstrels, toured Australia from around 1876. He believes that the many entertainers who were touring Australia at the time transmitted ragtime between 1900 and 1914. With the distribution of the ODJB recordings around 1918 and the visits of groups like the Frank Ellis Californians and the Bert Ralton Savoy Havana Band in 1923 the dissemination of American jazz was in full force. The earliest recording (1925), on the World Record Company label, was Ray Tellier’s San Francisco Orchestra. Sutcliffe provides information on the groups, personnel, soloists, and date and time period of each recording. There are 16 tracks.
Jazz and Hot Dance in Canada (1916–1949). HQ 2023.
The notes provided by Jack Litchfield are replete with vignettes regarding the impact and evolution of jazz in Canada. He reveals that African American musicians were in Canada, having escaped from slavery in the United States, as early as 1775. Dating from the eighteenth century, African American music included folk and sacred music, and beginning in the late nineteenth century, ragtime. Among the earliest Anglo-Canadians who recorded in a jazz or ragtime style were Willie Eckstein, Vera Guilaroff, Harry Thomas, and Luis Waizman. Several combos and big bands recorded between 1910 and 1920, and Guy Lombardo organized his first orchestra in London, Ontario, in 1921. Litchfield continues by detailing the evolution of Canadian jazz, discussing selected personnel, giving dates of recordings, influences, and relating the bebop achievements of Harold “Stepp” Wade. He also includes two recordings by Oscar Peterson. There is no mention of George Shearing. There are 17 tracks.
Jazz and Hot Dance in Denmark (1909–1953). HQ 2024.
Denmark has long been one of the favorite venues of jazz musicians. According to Erik Wiedemann, “Most foreign bands visiting Scandinavia at least played in Denmark, and during the period 1928–31—until foreign musicians were denied working permits by the German authorities—several Danish musicians played and even had their own bands in Germany and neighboring countries.” He continues by stating that John Philip Sousa introduced the saxophone to Denmark in 1903 and that contact with African American music dates to at least the 1860s. The Black Opera visited in 1891–92; Cunningham’s San Francisco Minstrels Orchestra in 1894; the Fisk Jubilee Singers in 1895; an African American Orchestra in 1899; and the American Black Troubadours in 1900. Thereafter, he lists other musicians who visited, including Louis Armstrong (1933), Coleman Hawkins (1935), Benny Carter (1936), Edgar Hayes and Fats Waller (1938), and Duke Ellington (1939), to name a few. A concise discussion of recordings, personnel, and dates is also provided. Important to scholars is the author’s reference to his doctoral dissertation, which covers the history of jazz in Denmark before 1950, Jazz: Denmark Ityveme, Trediveme og iyrreme (two volumes, plus three cassette tapes).
Hot Dance Music in Cuba (1901–1937). HQ 2035.
This album features the accumulated genres that developed in Cuba rather than the North American music referred to as jazz. Crisóbal Diaz Ayala and Richard Spottswood begin their notes with references to the Euro-Islamic-African musical hegemony of Cuba, which, in turn, has produced the danzón, son, rumba, mambo, and others. They continue by presenting a historical musical overview of the danzon and son. In addition, musicalhistorical notes are provided on each of the 13 tracks complete with references to dates, personnel, instrumentation, and meaning.
Jazz and Hot Dance in Spain (1919–1949). HQ 2026.
Rainer E. Lotz maintains that in spite of resentment of anything American, the ragtime craze reached Spain around the same time that it reached the rest of Europe, and that African American “Song and Dance teams such as Mister Johnson & Miss Bertha exhibited the ‘Original Cake Walk’ in 1905 at Barcelona’s Circo Alegria.” Furthermore, he asserts that Barcelona and Catalonia held no ill feelings toward America, and as a result, the acceptance of jazz became a symbol of their quest for independence. During the 1910s and 1920s two recording bands emerged, and beginning with the late 1920s, with visits by African American and French jazz musicians, we see the adaptation of jazz and jazz-related genres by numerous Spanish musicians. According to Lotz: “The major impact was undoubtedly the visit of Sam Wooding and His Chocolate Kiddies Orchestra.” He continues by stating: Robert Martin (not Tommy Ladnier), is the trumpeter on a hitherto unissued take of “Blake’s Blues,” a composition by reedman Jerry (in Spanish: Jacinto) Blake. The issued take was labeled “Sweet-Black Blues,” subtitled in brackets (Jacinto Blues), with composer credits to Jacinto Blake. The impact of political events on the history and evolution of Spanish jazz, notes on personnel, soloists, and important dates and venues are also discussed. There are 15 tracks, including one that features Don Byas.
Jazz and Hot Dance in Belgium (1910–1952). HQ 2027.
Belgians attempting to emulate African American cultural traditions might have began with their contact with minstrel acts. According to Robert Pemet, “Some of the better known acts were Mr. Berleur Negro Virtuoso (1878); The American Negro Scene (1881); Howard Baker (1892); Sam Anderson (1895); Cantrell and Williams (1896); The Elks (1903); Freddy and Rudy Walker (1904–1905); The Georgia Piccaninnies (1904–1906); The Black Troubadours (1906), and The Alabama Minstrels (1910).” The impact of ragtime, the varied meaning of the word jazz, and the impact of American recordings upon the evolution of jazz are also concisely discussed. Pemet continues by providing notes of the soloists, personnel information, historical vignettes, and date of recording for each of the 16 tracks. Oran “Hot Lips” Page is featured on the 1952 recording “Keep on Chumin’ (till the Butler Comes).”
Jazz and Hot Dance in Thailand (1956–1967). HQ 2028.
Contact between a Western musician and Thailand dates to the nineteenth century when Jakob Reit of Trier, a German Kapellmeister, emigrated to Siam. According to Rainer E. Lotz, both Jakob Reit and his son taught European notation techniques and trained the musicians of the Royal Orchestra in brass music. He reveals that Misses Florrie and Violet, members of the Harnston’s Grand Circus, demonstrated the cakewalk in 1904. Thereafter, the Lindström Company (Beka), and the International Talking Machine Company (Odeon), began to record local artists, however the first discernible transmission of jazz occurred around the time of Benny Goodman’s visit in the mid-1950s. In addition to this contact, the presence of American military personnel in Thailand in the 1960s also fueled the thirst for jazz and soul music. The 9 tracks include Thailand concerts by Benny Goodman, Jack Teagarden, and Lionel Hampton; Goodman teams with members of the Prasarn Mitr Band on one recording, and performs six tracks with his orchestra in the Voice of America concert held at the American Pavillion, Constitution Fair Grounds, Bangkok, Thailand, December 10, 1956.
Jazz and Hot Dance in Norway (1920–1946). HQ 2029.
Jan Evensmo and Bjørn Stendahl provide concise, historically significant information on the transmission of African American culture to Norway. They state: “As early as 1897, the instructor of I Brigade’s Brass Band, Oscar Borg, introduced Kerry Mills at a Georgia Camp Meeting in an arrangement called ‘Georgia Cakewalk’”. In 1906, the melody was entered in Pathe’s catalogue for phonograph rolls, in a piccolo-flute version. Following this, modern dances like the two-step, foxtrot, tango, fishwalk, and one-step were introduced, until 1919 offered the newest of the new: “Jazz Dance.” Traveling African American troupes introduced minstrels, spirituals, and ragtime as early as 1897 in Christiania (later renamed Oslo). The influence of ODJB and Paul Whiteman was significant because their recordings were available from around 1919. The author advises that “The first Norwegian group generally accepted as a ‘jazz band’ was led by violinist Lavritz Stang in 1920.” They also discuss the concept of “Clover Jazz” as exhibited by Roy Eldridge, Chu Berry, and Teddy Wilson. The liner notes focus more on contact, dissemination, and evolution, than on discussions of the 16 tracks.
Jali Music Bolu Koi (Gambia) (1984).
Notes from this anthology are not included because there is no proven connection between Jali music and jazz. The aforementioned conclusion was made in spite of research done by Paul Oliver and Samuel Charters (blues), and Alfons Dauer and Ernest Bornemann (jazz).
Jazz and Hot Dance in Sweden (1899–1969). HQ 2065.
According to Rainer E. Lotz, African American music was first introduced to Sweden in 1895 when the Fisk Jubilee Singers introduced spirituals and other genres. Beginnings in the early twentieth-century Swedish shops were offering stock arrangements of American popular music including the cakewalk, ragtime, and accordion and brass band music. He continues by providing insights into the first Swedish contact with jazz: “The word jazz was new in the Swedish language in 1919, soon after W.W.I, important music people and also the Musician’s Union condemned jazz and wanted the government to forbid the import of the ‘infectious disease’—without success—jazz came to stay. Pianist Sven Runo headed one of the earliest Swedish ‘jazz bands’ on record, but the music sounded far from New Orleans (black New Orleans musicians were first recorded in 1923, the same year as Runo’s recordings).” Anyhow, the band included the black banjoist Russell Jones, who arrived with an English group around 1914. Jones settled in Sweden, and his obbligato playing makes this recording (A/2) especially interesting as traces of early ad-lib improvisation appeared in the late 1920s. Hàkan von Eichwald organized the first big band in 1930. Lotz relates that the 1933 Louis Armstrong visit, the 1935 appearance of Coleman Hawkins, and the 1936 appearance of Benny Carter lead Swedish jazz musicians to prefer the “real stuff.” He continues by providing details of soloists, personnel, compositions, and important dates. There are 16 tracks.
Jazz and Hot Dance in Italy (1919–1948). HQ 2078.
Raffaele Borretti admits that he was selective when including artists who helped to disseminate jazz in Italy. He reveals that the first American people/groups to visit Italy were the Will Marion Cook Orchestra (featuring Sidney Bechet and Arthur Briggs), the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, Art Hickman, Vincent Lopez, Adrian Rollini, Paul Whiteman, and more. Even though jazz was not welcomed in the late 1930s, the music continued to spread because their listening influenced Italian musicians and travel experiences. Borretti asserts: From 1915, Italian dance bands began furtively to play foxtrots and other rhythmic music, introducing instruments like the banjo and drums: It’s very interesting to note that until recently in Italy, in provincial places at least, the word “jazz” designated the drums. Rome and Milan, with their many theatres, dance halls, “Cafe-Chantants,” and big audiences were the first centers where jazz saw the light. Thereafter he chronicles the deeds of some of Italy’s early groups, the influence of American artists like Red Nichols, the Dorsey’s, Venuti-Lang, and the impact of musicians like Sam Wooding, Claude Hopkins, Mitchell’s Jazz Kings, Louis Armstrong, and others. Musical-historical notes on personnel, date, and soloists on some of the 16 tracks, and style influence(s) are also provided.
